Tangled wire mass



Patented `'une 30, 1942 Y paniers.' um;

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, Haas., @signor Leominster v tospringileld Wire Tlnsei Co., West Spring- V iield, lMass., az-corporation of Massachusetts I (jlrighnl application llas-ch 17, 1939 Serial No.v f

282,508," Patent No. 2,240,185,1lated'pril 29, l g 1941. Divided and thisapplication January 31, 1940, Serial No. 316,551 v f acter which may be formed outof continuous dat bronze wire and which will have a larger bulk for the same weight-and also a larger number of cutting edges and a better disposition thereof than .has been possible` with previous forms of bronze wire used for cleaning and abrasive processes. A lfurther object is to provide a mass o this character which may be compressed to form a closely knit product. The nature of the invention can best be understood from a consideration .of the method of making the arti-` cle and its relation to prior methods for making helical coils out of fine flattened wire.

One method of making helical coils, such for example as are employed inmaking dish scrubhing pads out of iine iiattened bronze wire, has been to wind the wire on a stationary mandrel by means of a .so-called flyervmvachine This type of machine comprises a carrier member ro tating coaxially with the mandrel or needle, and carrying a guide or ilyer made of light wire to avoid excessive centrifugal eiects, the guide terminating in a wire loop or a small` pulley. A rotatable spool, also coaxiaLwith the mandrel, supplies the flattened wire to the guide, which carries the wire in a circular path around the mandrel. The mandrel is made tapering, so that the coils formed thereon by the rotation of the guide will slide progressively along the mandrel and oli its point.

In the operation of machines of this type. it is necessary to wind the wire upon the mandrel in such a manner as yto give the wire a permanent set in helical form, so that the helix slides ci! the mandrel in a smooth continuous coil. It a roller guide is used, this set is produced by increasingthe tensiononthewiresothatitwill be bent so tightly over the cornersof the polygonal mandrel that it has `substantially no tendency to unwind. The use of a wire loop instead of the roller guide, a change desirable in order to reduce the weight of this rapidly rotating part, makes it possible to reduce this tension somewhat, for the drawing of the wire across the'loop of itself imparted a `tendency to curl juf. i

In accordance with the present invention, L follow somewhat the same procedure but with important differences `which cause the resulting product to' assume tangled rather than helical form. In tact, although the'product is preferably made by winding into regular helicalorm on a tapering mandrel' as before, the final' product obtained consists of a tangled series .of nonaligned loops which have no vestige of helical characteristics. The detailed mannerin which this is accomplished will be discussed below, but the general principles 'may be indicated here. I vhave discovered that if the 4helical product is formedin this manner it has a strong tendency to unwind, instead of being set so as to be substantially without such tendency; and, if the son-formed helical product is released `progressive-- ly while holding the ends against rotation, the

released intermediate portions will `lkink and 4 tangle to form a rope-like product entirely diierent in appearance iromthe wound helix. One

way of securing this tendency to unwind is to utilize the wire loop form of guide as formerly,v but instead of usingu the curl imparted by the loopv to cause the wound wire to cling to the neeency to curl given by the rubbing action of thel guide eye to oppose the tendency to curl given by winding on the mandrel, so that the wound helix has a strong tendency to open up. As will be pointed out, other means of securing the same effect maybe used. The invention will now bev described in con nection withthe accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of device by which the method may be practiced;

Fig. 2 is a perspective detail showing a modification;

Fig. 3 is a perspective detail showing a further modication;

' Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of one form of I reference may be made to that patent for details not shown herein. The spindle comprises a central non-rotating support into which a inan-y drel or needle Il is threaded. Free for rotation which assisted the wire to clingtc the mandrel. 55 around the support under the innuence of a derneath it without difilculty.

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rather than allowing it tooontinue on of! the endofthemaridrel.

around the support' is a positively driven member il which carriesalightwireilyer Il terminating in a loop i5. .The member Il carries the wireA around the mandrelin a direction which, as shown in the drawing, is clockwise when viewed `from the end of the mandrel. In the form of the invention shown in Pig. l, the wire passes over the guide eye and thence to the mandrel without any twist, so that the side of the wire which -rubbed against the guide eye will be on the outside when the wire is wound on the mandrel. As was pointed out above, the rubbing of the wire over the eye produces in it a tendency to form a curl,` and by the arrangement described this tendency is opposed to that given by setting when the wire is wound on the mandrel. The re. sult is that as soon as the wound coil is free from restraint it will tend to unwind; and if the product coming oi! the needle is held so that it cannot-rotate as a'whole, kinks will be formed which-will produce the desired tangled product.

Instead of carrying the wire over the guide eye and back under as in Fig. 1, it is possible to carry it under and back over as in Fig. 2. Itwillbeobservedthatirithiscasetheside ofthewirerubbedagainsttheguideeyeis opposed to that which rubbed against the guide eye in Flg. 1, and in order to bring the rubbed side outermost it is necessary to introduce a halfturnintothewirebetweentheguideeye and the mandrel as shown at il. The product will be practically equivalent, although the arrangementof Fig. 1 is generally preferable as the wire seems to have lesstendency to break et man speed and the tangled product is slightly tighter in texture. Y

Fig. 2 shows a further change from the arrangement oi Fig. 1 in that the needle II, instead of being square in cross section like the needle ii of Fig. 1, is made round. For some .purpow the sharp bends introduced into the wire by bending around the square mandrel may be desirable, as in some forms of scouring devices. For other purposes it may be preferable to have no sharp 'bends in the product, and in auch case a round mandrel is used. When the mandrel is square it is not necessary to provide means for holding the wire `in. place upon it, for the square corners give a grip on the wire that will prevent slippage. With a round manj drel, however, the wire will simply spin around the mandrel without winding into a helix unless something is provided to hold it. A roll or pad I8 held against the side of the mandrel, preferably yleldingly, .will prevent circumferential slippage, the helical coils sliding axially un- The same mult will be secured by pressing cgainst the side of I the mandrel with the finger.

The roll or pad il also prevents the helix Fig. 3k shows' a further manner in which the method may be practiced which comprises the use of a guide roller in place of the guide eye Il. Such a roller will 'putln'o tendency to cllllintothewire,anditls!iecessarylntl`ils case to vary thenormal operation of the device by decreasing the tension on the wire so that drel, so that as the helix unwinds and springs from springing away trom the mandrel until it has been definitely formed into helical shape. It is necessary, in order to insure the production of a uniform product. that the helix be released from the mandrel ata substantially constant point. Since the helix cannot release itself until after passing the roll is, it is apparent that the roll will determine the point of release. This point may be determined in the case of the square mandrel where no holding device is used by starting the helix of! the mandrel at an intermediate point of its length into a tangled mass it will be caught andguided by the inner surface of the tube. 'I'his reduces the tendency to form a product with tangled masses separated by untangled stretches of wire,

which sometimes results when the product is allowed to come oilthe needle by gravity. Whether the tube be used or not, it is desirable to have some support for the product as it leaves the mandrel. so that the weight of the mass h anging from the mandrel will not tend to straighten the wire out. The tube, however, has

'the advantage that the product is confined and made to assume a rope-like form which is. convenient for packing in containers as in the manuiacture of air filters or sound absorbing devices. It obviously can be used with the forms shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and has been fragmentarily indicated in Fig. 2.

It will be observed that all tions described operate by forming a helix which has a tendency to spin on its axis, and allowing the helix to satisfy this spinning tendency while theendsofthe helixaresoheldastomake it impossible for the helix to spin as `a whole. The resulting kinking of the intermediate part of the helix, which is released progressively, causes the formation of a tangled product which may be caused to assume a rope-like form by confining it as in a tube. While several forms of apparatus have been shown as capable of use in carrying out the method, it will be apparent that the method is independent of them and that it might be carrieclY out by other devices.

It is believed that the nature of the product will be understood from the foregoing description of the method by which it is made andy which is described and claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 262,508, filed March 17, 1939, now Patent 2,240,185, April 29, 1941, of which the present application is a division. It will be seen that where a polygonal. mandrel is used and the guideeye I5 is employed, the product will 'have a series of localized bends.

produced by the corners of the mandrel, all of these bends being in the same direction. Between them the wire will generally, but not necessarily, possess a reverse curvature. Where the roller type of guide is used as in Fig. 3, or where the tension around the guideveye i5 is reduced suillciently, this reverse curvature -will not be present. Similarly, where the round mandrel of Fig. 2 is employed the localized bends will not bel present. All oi these products have characteristlcs in common,however, which will be found due to fea'tures inherent in the various methods in making the article described above.

It will be observed that neither the ironing or the m'odmca The product diiers from action across the eye I5 nor the bending around the mandrel H or I1 is'exactly at right angles to the length of the wire. This gives to the wire a tendency to twist about its own axis, this twist being suiicient to prevent the loops into which the wire springs from lying in a helical formation. This tendency to twist is also aided by the uncoiling and kinking action set up whenA the coil is released from the mandrel. preceding products made from continuous at bronze wire in having its cutting edges disposed in random angles instead of having them conned to regular helical coils as has previously been common. For this reasonthe bulk of the tangled product will be much greater for a greater eiciency and a lower cost.

Fig.x 4 shows on an enlarged scale a fragment of the product if it is gathered into tangled form,l

without subsequent compression. The form here shown is that made upon a polygonal mandrel, as that lends itself better to illustration. The wire has a tendency to form clusters of non-aligned loops, with the loops generally lying inrandom planes; the clusters being generally separated by stretches of unlooped wire of varying lengths.l

Fig. 5 shows the same product after compression,

given weight resulting in the effect of which is to compact and tangle the product and to give to the clustered loops a tendency to lie in rosettes which have their loops more nearly coplanar than was the case in the original product. Other forms of product having the same essential characteristics may be made by controlling the various factors along the lines indicated above.

. formation.

What I claim is:

1..A wire mass for use as an abrasive, filter, or the like, comprising a continuous length of flat Wire in the form of a plurality of loops of small diameter in relation to that of the mass, the continuous length of wire following a random course through the mass with adjacent loops in random planes.

2. A wire mass for use as an abrasive, lter, or the like, comprising a ilat Wire possessing closely spaced, transverse bends all in the same direction, the wire between the bends possessing a distributed curvature in the reverse direction, and the wire as a whole possessing a twist about its axis sufficient to cause random disposition of the -wire in the mass.

3. A wire mass forv use as an abrasive, lter, or the like, comprising ,a flat wire possessing closely spaced transverse bends all in the same direction, the wire possessing a twist about its axis suicient to cause random disposition of the wire in the mass and to produce an interlocking tangled mass without appreciable helical coil 4. A wire mass for use as an abrasive, ilter, or the like, comprising a at wire possessing closely spaced transverse bends all in the same direction, the wire between the loops possessing a distributed curvature in the reverse` direction and the wire as a whole possessing a twist about its axis sumcientto cause random disposition ofthe wire in themass and to produce an interlocking tangled mass without formationo DANIELE.. l

appreciable helical coil 

